[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] on Thursday sided with several states and the federal government [opinion, PDF] when it found that energy company Cinergy Corp. [corporate website] should have gone through a federal permit process prior to increasing their pollutant output after modernizing
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[JURIST] US Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle [official profile] of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled [PDF text] Thursday that the confessions of three Rwandan rebels charged with killing two American tourists in Uganda were achieved through torture and coercion and ruled that the confessions are
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[JURIST] A New Jersey state court on Thursday vacated a November verdict finding Merck not liable [JURIST report] for the heart attack of Frederick Humeston, who suffered a heart attack in September 2001 after taking Merck's painkiller Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive] for less than 18
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[JURIST] The New Hampshire Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional [opinion text, PDF] a state voting law that lists the election candidate of the winning party in the preceding state general election first on the ballot. The New Hampshire voting statute [RSA656:5 text] provides: "[t]he first
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[JURIST] President Bush on Thursday signed into law the Pension Protection Act of 2006 [HR 4 materials; AP summary], which he called the "most sweeping reform" of US pension law since the enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) [text] in 1974. The bill, passed by the Senate
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[JURIST] A federal jury sitting in Raleigh, North Carolina on Thursday found David Passaro [Raleigh News and Observer materials] guilty of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan [JURIST report]. The jury convicted Passaro on three misdemeanor counts of simple assault and one felony count of assault resulting in bodily injury, after
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[JURIST] Delaware must make their public documents available to residents of other states, according to a ruling [PDF text] handed down Wednesday by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Delaware's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] as written prevents non-residents from accessing Delaware public records, but the
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[JURIST] AP is reporting that US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has ruled that the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive; US DOJ Q/A, PDF] is unconstitutional and has ordered the National Security Agency [official website] to immediately cease using warrantless wiretaps to intercept communications of suspected terrorists
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[JURIST] A federal jury in New Orleans on Thursday found Merck [corporate website] negligent for failing to warn doctors about the risks associated with taking the painkiller Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive] and found that Merck knowingly misrepresented the risks involved. The verdict comes in the
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[JURIST] Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon [official profile] on Wednesday filed a notice of appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website], and told reporters that he intends to appeal a federal court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] granting summary judgment to a class action
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[JURIST] The United Nations has opened an investigation into a suspected child prostitution ring in the Democratic Republic of Congo [JURIST news archive] facilitated by UN peacekeepers and Congo soldiers, the UN Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) [official website] said Thursday. There have been claims that UN peacekeepers have aided
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[JURIST] Peruvian prosecutors have filed informal charges against Ollanta Humala [COHA profile; BBC report], the opposition leader who narrowly lost the recent presidential election [BBC report] to Alan Garcia, for murder, torture and kidnapping stemming from his position as an army captain in Peru's San Martin province during the 1990s.
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[JURIST] A US Marine has been charged with three counts of assault and one count of making a false statement in connection with an incident occurring on April 10 near the village of Hamdania in Iraq, according to a Marine spokesman speaking Wednesday. Lt. Nathan Phan allegedly beat and choked
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[JURIST] Indonesian authorities on Thursday shortened prison sentences for 10 people convicted in connection with the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [BBC report] that killed over 200 people. Nine prisoners with sentences between five and 16 years had their sentences cut by four months for good behavior. A tenth had his
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[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website] agreed Wednesday to hold a conscience vote on a stem cell research bill allowing therapeutic cloning if a private bill is offered to parliament. A conscience vote [SAVES backgrounder] is a free parliamentary vote in which members are not bound by party
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[JURIST] A federal jury in Raleigh, North Carolina reached a partial verdict Wednesday in the trial [JURIST report] of David Passaro [Raleigh News and Observer materials], a CIA contractor accused of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan [indictment; JURIST report], but US District Judge Terrence Boyle [official profile] sealed the decision
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[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] on Wednesday praised new British anti-terrorism laws [UK Home Office materials] that helped thwart a terror plot [JURIST report] to explode jetliners traveling over the Atlantic Ocean, saying that the provision that allows British authorities to detain terror suspects for up to
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